Tuesday, January 6, 2015

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one"

I am someone who has lived thousands of lives:

I have started a nonprofit, receiving my inspiration from asking a little boy what he wanted. What did he want? A pencil. He wanted a chance to write, to create, to learn. 

I am a young girl who just wants an education. I know most people in my country don't want me to be educated, and a shot to the head was a powerful reminder of that. Despite the hardships that have come, I am still dedicated to education and to learning. 

I am a man who has lived in jail for 15 years because I want to convert to another religion. Even my father wants me dead, but I'm not giving up. I know that God is still here; he is watching over me and he loves me.

I am a soldier in the trenches of Germany. I didn't know what I was signing up for when I pledged my duty. I thought I was fighting against evil, but all I know is that the guy I'm looking at looks just as afraid as I am. 

I am the Pope around 800AD. I disguised myself as a man when my village was raided and my brother was killed. In order to continue my learning, I went to the monastery and told them my name was John, but it is actually Joan.

I am a Russian Cossack. I defend my family and my home, but mainly, I just hope that I can live another day. 

Sometimes I live my life in the present, but most of the time I spend my life in the past. I love reading and learning about other cultures and other peoples. I know that my life is different because of the stories that I read. I gain a little courage learning about Pope Joan, a little hope reading All Quiet on the Western Front, and a little determination from reading My Name is Muhammad. Reading is my own form of traveling when I need to stay at home. I can learn and grow without leaving the country.

2 comments:

  1. I completely agree, sometimes we think that we have to always be in a certain place where the culture is taking place to learn and live it. But you can do so much research and learn a lot about a culture by just reading.

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  2. While that is true, most novels only have one or two authors and so the accounts that we read and the perspectives are rather biased. This is fine, everything is seen through bias. However, if we really were in one of these places and situations and we were to write a book about it afterward then, with our biases I think that different details and thoughts would stand out to us. I say that you should get out into the world too and from there decide on your own spin of the outside world. You really only have one life, even if that life includes diving into other people's experiences.

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